The stable of trainer Ron Burke looks to put the exclamation point on another record year when it sends out two horses in Saturday’s $162,200 Cleveland Classic for three-year-old pacers at Northfield Park

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Burke’s Westwardho Hanover, who was supplemented to the Cleveland Classic for $15,000, drew post five and will have the services of driver Dave Palone while Southwind Milo got post one and will be driven by Ryan Stahl.

Westwardho Hanover enters the Cleveland Classic off a second-place finish to stablemate Hugadragon in the $221,465 Matron Stakes on Nov. 27 at Dover Downs. He won the $330,000 Progress Pace on Nov. 13 at Dover and has finished off the board only once in his last 11 starts.

For the year, the son of Dragon Again-Western Duel has won five of 18 races and earned $404,735. Westwardho Hanover is owned by the Westward Ho Stable.

Southwind Milo, a son of Artiscape-Mondiane Hanover, has won three of 22 races and $85,677 for the Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, W.W. Haas Jr. and JJK Stables. He finished second twice on the New York Sire Stakes circuit.

“They’re both racing as good as they can race right now,” Burke said. “The little Milo horse catching the rail makes a big difference for him. He goes from maybe just racing to try to be fifth to maybe getting a bigger part of it. I think (Westwardho Hanover) will really get around the half-mile track well. I don’t think that will be an issue for him.”

Burke’s stable entered Wednesday leading North America in wins, with 761, and purses, with $18.01 million. The stable is on the verge of breaking the record of $18.05 million it set in earnings just last season. A win in the Cleveland Classic would give Burke his 27th victory this year in a race worth at least $100,000.

“I think this is our best year,” Burke said. “This year we did it with more stakes horses. I had a lot of top young horses that made a lot of money.”

Burke’s top win came with Sweet Lou in the $650,000 Breeders Crown for two-year-old male pacers. Foiled Again was a multiple stakes-winner and at the age of seven became the oldest pacer to have a million-dollar season ($1.4 million). Other top horses included Kentucky Sire Stakes champion Im Feeling Good, Indiana Sire Stakes champion Dream Kid, Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion Foxy Lady, and Lady Maud winner Rocklamation.

He also saw older pacer Won The West add $435,812 to his career earnings, which at $3.9 million ranks him third among the leading money winners in harness racing history, before being sidelined by tendon inflammation. (Burke said Won The West looked “wonderful” and expects him to return to action in 2012.) Three-time defending Trotting Mare of the Year Buck I St Pat was retired in the fall after winning $202,300 this season.

“I think the highlight was probably Sweet Lou as much as anything,” Burke said. “We trained him down and he might be the best horse we’ve ever had. That would be followed closely by the year Hugadragon had because he’s a horse we bred, which is something we never do. To do that and have it work out is pretty neat for us.”

Burke’s stable featured 225 horses at its peak this year. The number now is not far from that.

“It’s uncharted territory, really,” Burke said about racing a large number of horses on a regular basis. “We’ve actually gotten better at it. We’ve figured out more as we’ve gone along. I still think there are things we can do better; there’s always room for improvement.

“The biggest thing is that we all like what we’re doing. We all love to race. Right now, it’s so weird for us because we’re racing (only) five or six a day. It’s just so boring. You get used to being on that high of racing.

“I don’t see us going backwards. I think next year we’re primed to have a better year than ever before. We’re going to have more horses and even higher quality horses. We love racing. You can’t race enough with me.”

$162,200 Jay Auto Group Cleveland Classic
1. Southwind Milo
2. Best Man Hanover
3. Mach Of Ballykeel
4. Upfront Ellijay Ed
5. Westwardho Hanover
6. Camgrandest
7. Something For Doc
8. Audreys Dream
9. Mystic Desire
10. Onhishonor Hanover

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.